The Cape Coast high court has restrained James Gyakye Quayson from holding himself as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Assin North.
On Wednesday 28 July 2021, Justice Kwasi Boakye also ordered for fresh parliamentary elections to be held in the constituency.
This follows a parliamentary election petition brought to the Cape Coast high court by Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, seeking to annul the MP’s election.
Election petition
Quayson polled 17,498 votes against 14,793 by the New Patriotic Party’s Abena Durowaa Mensah in the 7 December 2020 parliamentary election.
On 30 December 2020, a resident of Assin North, Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, filed a parliamentary election petition at the Cape Coast high court challenging Quayson’s eligibility to be a Member of Parliament.
He argued that the MP was not eligible because at the time he (Quayson) filed his nomination to stand as a parliamentary candidate, he was still a citizen of Canada.
Such an act, he argued, was against the express provision of Article 94 (2) (a) of the 1992 constitution and Section 9(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1992 (PNDCL 284).
Reliefs sought
Among other reliefs, the applicant wants the Cape Coast high court to declare the nomination filed by Quayson “illegal, void and of no legal effect”.
He also seeks a declaration that the EC’s decision to clear Quayson to run as a parliamentary candidate was “illegal, void and of no legal effect”.
Another relief the applicant seeks is an order restraining Quayson from holding himself out as the MP-elect for Assin North and another order cancelling the parliamentary election that took place in Assin North on 7 December 2020.
Injunction
On 6 January this year, Justice Boakye issued an interlocutory injunction against Quayson restraining him from holding himself as the MP-elect until the final determination of the election petition.
This in effect barred the MP from being sworn in.
Quayson showed up in Parliament the same day to vote in the election to select the Speaker of Parliament, and for him (Quayson) to be sworn into office as MP.
The Clerk to Parliament initially refused to allow him to take part in the election, but the NDC parliamentary leadership argued that Quayson had not been served with the court order and was, therefore, not aware of any injunction restraining him from holding himself as the MP-elect.
After many arguments, the Clerk to Parliament allowed Quayson to vote and also to be sworn into office, with the caution that he (Quayson) would bear the consequences of that action.
The Cape Coast high court also overruled an objection by lawyers for Quayson, seeking to have the presiding judge, Justice Kwasi Boakye, recuse himself from the case which sought to annul the MP’s election.
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